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Will your next new car stop itself?

August 2, 2012

The 2013 Volvo S60 is available with an autonomous emergency braking system

Last week in Park City, Utah, a group of us were discussing the chutzpah that some manufacturers have in charging hundreds of dollars for outboard mirrors that dip downward when the vehicle's placed in reverse. The consensus was, “Since the electric motors in the mirrors are already there, and the computers know the car's set to back up, it's only a line of code. A very expensive line of code.”

The European Union seems to be thinking along the same lines. Given the proliferation of antilock brakes and adaptive cruise-control systems, EU regulators are thinking, “Why not mandate automatic emergency-braking systems in an attempt to reduce collisions?”

As of now, the mandate only applies to commercial vehicles, which will be required to be equipped with the systems come November of 2013. The ruling for private automobiles is more dictum than mandate, but it dangles a seriously tasty carrot in front of manufacturers. Starting in 2014, Euro NCAP will include assessment of the autonomous braking systems in its crash-safety testing, and only vehicles so equipped will be eligible to earn the agency's coveted five-star rating.

Given that American regulators are serious about mandatory backup-camera installation in vehicles on our shores, it may only be a matter of time until autonomous braking winds up alongside stability control, ABS and airbags as systems that once seemed like safety perks for the wealthy but now appear in vehicles as a condition of sale.

After all, nothing cheapens once-pricey lines of code like a legal decree for mass adoption.